Page 110 of Dear Friend

The sound of her name was enough.

Elizabeth crossed the room before remembering propriety, company or anything else and caught Julia in an embrace. Julia held her just as tightly, and Elizabeth buried her face against her friend’s shoulder as months of unanswered letters, imagined disasters and hopeless enquiries collapsed beneath the simple reality of having her alive in her arms.

“You are well.” Elizabeth drew back only far enough to look at her, both hands still gripping Julia’s arms as though she feared she might disappear again. Tears blurred her vision, and she laughed through them. “You are truly here.”

“I am.”

“I have written you so many letters.”

Julia’s own eyes filled, but this time her smile came easily. “I know, Lizzy. I have them.”

Chapter Thirty-Eight

14th December 1811

Longbourn

Elizabeth

Nearly two hours later, Elizabeth had heard enough to understand what had happened to the Hardings after they left Willowbrook. Much of Julia’s illness remained a blur even to Julia herself, though she spoke through tears of her aunt’s death and of fragments from the difficult months which followed. Her stepmother, who had been with child when Julia’s illness worsened, had returned to her own family rather than risk exposure to the same sickness, while her father and aunt had taken Julia to London in search of better care.

“She is still with her family,” Julia explained. “She has since given birth to a son and brought him to see us once I was well enough. Papa would not hear of her bringing so young a baby into Hertfordshire in winter merely to accompany us, so she has remained with her family until we return.”

“You have a brother?” Elizabeth smiled and squeezed her hand. “Then I have missed considerably more than I imagined.”

“So have I, it seems.” Julia looked down at their joined hands, her smile fading a little. “There are whole portions of those months which remain quite lost to me. The physicians tell me I must be patient, but they believe more will return in time.”

“And you remember Longbourn now? All of us?”

“Some things more clearly than others.” Julia turned her hand beneath Elizabeth’s and clasped her fingers. “When Colonel Fitzwilliam found us, I remembered very little of anything before my illness. It was not until Mr. Darcy brought me your letters that something began to change.”

Elizabeth stilled at the mention of Mr. Darcy’s name but said nothing.

“I read the first and remembered nothing at all,” Julia continued. “I read another, and another, until I had gone through every one of them. There were so many that when I reached the last, I began again from the beginning.”

“That must have been difficult.”

“It was at first. I knew from the letters that this Elizabeth Bennet must have been very dear to me, but I could not remember being dear to her.” Julia’s eyes glistened as she smiled. “Then, somewhere during the fourth reading, I saw your face. Not as you are now, but beneath the old tree at Longbourn, laughing at me because I had become terribly cross over something I considered very serious.”

Elizabeth laughed, though tears immediately blurred her sight. “That does sound like us.”

“It does, does it not?” Julia squeezed her hand. “After that, other things began returning. Jane, your father, parts of Longbourn. Some memories came only as impressions, and others quite suddenly. The physicians say the letters may have awakened associations which were already there, and that being amongst familiar people and places may help still more.”

Elizabeth could no longer keep the tears from escaping. “And if Colonel Fitzwilliam had not found you...”

“You would still be writing to an empty house, and I might still be wondering why the name Lizzy felt as though it ought to mean something to me.” Julia brushed at her own tears and gave a small laugh. “So you see, I owe Colonel Fitzwilliam a great deal. And Mr. Darcy too. If he had not brought me those letters, I do not know when, or whether, I should have remembered you at all.”

“Then you shall be surrounded by all of us until you are heartily tired of remembering.”

“I am relying upon it.” Julia laughed before glancing towards her father, who was speaking with Mr. Bennet near the windows. “Papa was much improved by then as well, and once the physicians believed I could travel, we decided to come to Hertfordshire. Mr. Darcy thought Netherfield would be the most convenient place for us to stay, and Mr. Bingley was kind enough to insist upon it.”

Elizabeth followed her gaze. “I am very glad you came.”

“So am I.” Julia hesitated, and something in her expression changed. “Though I must say again that none of it would have been possible without Mr. Darcy.”

Elizabeth’s smile faltered slightly.

Julia seemed not to notice. “Lizzy, Mr. Darcy told me everything. How he found the letters, why he opened the first and why he continued reading the others.” She paused and drew a breath. “There is a great deal we shall have to discuss, but Colonel Fitzwilliam only found us because Mr. Darcy asked him to continue searching. He arranged for Papa to receive better care, settled his debts and brought me your letters himself. I do not know what would have become of us without everything he did.”